diff --git a/fs/proc/proc_sysctl.c b/fs/proc/proc_sysctl.c
index df2143e05c57..08c33bd1642d 100644
--- a/fs/proc/proc_sysctl.c
+++ b/fs/proc/proc_sysctl.c
@@ -564,6 +564,10 @@ static ssize_t proc_sys_call_handler(struct file *filp, void __user *ubuf,
 	if (!table->proc_handler)
 		goto out;
 
+	/* don't even try if the size is too large */
+	if (count > KMALLOC_MAX_SIZE)
+		return -ENOMEM;
+
 	if (write) {
 		kbuf = memdup_user_nul(ubuf, count);
 		if (IS_ERR(kbuf)) {